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Barely a Hop, Skip Or Jump Away

That’s how I would describe our next destination – barely a hop, skip or jump away. Our preferred campground for attending the RV show is Quail Run RV Resort in Wesley Chapel but when we tried booking a site there several weeks back they were totally full – apparently a lot of other people find it a good place to stay while attending the RV show too. That’s why we booked a site at Alafia State Park instead, but we could only get a site thru Thursday night there so we didn’t have anyplace to stay on Friday and the upcoming weekend. Even knowing how difficult it has been this year finding anything on a weekend, just for kicks I decided to call Quail Run again, thinking that perhaps people who were coming for the show might leave by Friday morning. Bingo! They did have one pull thru available for the weekend, site #293. Wow that was lucky!

So on Friday morning, January 16th we left Alafia State Park around 1:00 p.m. headed for Quali Run RV Resort in Wesley Chapel, a short run of about 48 miles. After exiting the campground, we took County Road 39N for about 5 miles, then took a left turn onto Lithia Pinecrest Rd for another 11 miles, then turning left on Brandon Road hopping onto I-75N towards Ocala. We took exit 279 onto FL-54, then a right onto Old Pasco Road and arrived 2 miles later. Easy route except Old Pasco Rd is a bit narrow.

By the way, diesel here was $2.449/gal and we bought gas for the Odyssey for $1.839 at Sams Club – those are the lowest prices for us this year so far. We filled up the beast for just $80, wow! (adding about 33 gallons to our 100 gallon tank)

We checked in at the Quail Run office and although we knew exactly where our site was, it is campground policy to escort visitors to their sites. Rob unhitched the toad, then we drove to our site. Easy peasy since it was right down the road from the office and a pull thru. We had no sooner landed when the couple across the road, Entegra Anthem owners, introduced themselves, pointing out that there were a number of Entegra owners staying in the resort and that we would all have to get together.

Interestingly our site just happened to be on Travel Supreme Lane (all the roads are named after RV manufacturers). Just to interject a quick history lesson and why I thought that was interesting – Jayco, a leading manufacturer of RV’s, bought the assets of Travel Supreme in 2008 and then reintroduced the product under the Entegra brand. Kind of coincidental that we ended up on that lane.

Quail Run is a nice, well maintained park with 292 sites, 52 pull thrus with mostly motorhomes and 5th wheels and just a few park models. Each site has a full cement pad with a picnic table and offers generous spacing between.

There are two sections to the park – the older section which is heavily treed with live oaks and Spanish moss and the new section where there are not a lot of trees or other plantings to provide any type of shade or privacy from your next door neighbor or even those behind you. Probably in a few years as some of the younger plants mature, the new section will offer more shade. But for now, if you want shade then perhaps the older section would be preferable, however, be aware that the sites are grass with a smaller cement pad and some looked to be uncomfortably close together. Pick the new section for almost guaranteed satellite reception. Realize that there is quite a bit of traffic noise on the I-75 end of the resort, particularly those sites that are located on the eastern perimeter of the park and are directly adjacent to the interstate – we were on the opposite end of the resort and were not bothered by noise at all. They have three different rates – deluxe sites are $42/day (ours was considered a deluxe), premium sites are $48/day and perimeter sites are $55/day.

The resort has quite a few amenities – rec hall, bath house, a newly renovated heated pool, laundry facilities, exercise room and a convenience store. And the usual activities – the weekly bingo, shuffleboard, pancake breakfasts on Saturday mornings, etc. The rules are rather strict here and it seems to have had a positive effect resulting in a very neat and clean looking facility for the most part.

Once we settled in, I was off and running, er, walking several loops around the park. After the previous two days, I really needed to do some serious hoofin’ it as I didn’t want to lose my momentum. Mission accomplished! Being tired after two nights of partying (well, sort of), it was a quiet evening for us.

When we hit the sack that evening, we knew we had a treat in store the next morning – long hot showers! That might sound funny to non-RV’ers but after spending 5 mornings without a sewer hookup, the “navy showers” had become a little tiresome. So that was the first order of business on Saturday, the second was a trip to Sam’s Club to stock up on groceries, the third was laundry and last but not least another 10,000 steps. Sounds totally exciting doesn’t it? Ya know life as wandering full timers isn’t always as glamorous and glorious as it sounds!

Since we were going to a nearby Sam’s Club, Rob decided we should go out to breakfast. Gee, what a surprise! Initially we talked about going to the First Watch Restaurant we had gone to last year but then we decided to try a restaurant we had driven by last year, the Wolf’s Den (Update 8/12/2015: the website has disappeared, caveat emptor). That turned out to be a mistake. It was late morning by the time we arrived there and there were people waiting. When I gave our name to the hostess, she said it would be a 15 to 20 minute wait. Wrong! I think it was more like 45 minutes. No place to wait inside so good thing it was a nice day – we had to stand outside while waiting. Just as I was getting a little impatient and had checked to see where we were on the list, the hostess finally called our name and we were seated.

I ordered the Wolf’s Den Skillet – hash browns with bacon, peppers, onions and cheese topped with two eggs. Rob had the Wolf’s Den Omelet – bacon,​ sausage, ham, mushroom, onion & tomato, topped w/ cheddar & jack cheese. Well, we waited and waited and waited and waited some more. By now, it was time for lunch! Have I ever mentioned that one of my pet peeves is when people who are seated after us get their food before us? Well, that’s what happened here. Our waitress who was very nice and very attentive even came over several times to apologize for the delay. Finally our food arrived (Rob forgot to take pictures). Mine was okay – the hash browns were lukewarm but Rob thought his omelet was excellent. Giving the place the benefit of the doubt, perhaps things would have been better during the week when it was less busy. I think we arrived there around 10:45 a.m. and didn’t leave until 12:30 p.m. Jeesh, a pretty long breakfast to say the least! Rob had leftovers (I didn’t bother with mine) but left them in the car only to be discovered the next day! Oh well!

After Sam’s Club, we returned back to the coach, put everything away and started the laundry brigade. The people across the way seemed fairly busy, so a get together with them never happened.